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South & Southeast Asia — Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar · Koh Phangan · Chaloklum village

Chaloklum (Fisherman Village)

also known as Ao Chaloklum, Chaloklum Bay, Chaluklum Beach

lagoonbeginner-friendlymedium crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

Wind
- Month by month
Forecast
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
- Rescue
Hazards
Rules & access
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos

Nearby Ban Tai Beach 7 km · Nathon 29 km · Hua Thanon (Nahai Beach) 35 km · straight-line distance

SeasonJan, Feb, Mar, Nov, Decthe months riders and schools name How windy10-20 knotsmixed LaunchTight during the north-wind window, when island schools and independent riders converge on the same bay.access rules on record, below Waterflat lagoon with possible swell/open-coast chop in stronger northeast wind29°C in summer · 5 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools4named at this spot From the airportno transfer time publishedSamui Airport (USM)

On the clock

11:00 · 16:00

Reported two ways, and they do not agree: mornings and late afternoons as the strongest hours, against a session window of roughly 11:00 to 16:00 when daytime heating reinforces the monsoon flow. Neither reading is specific to Chaloklum.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

Chaloklum is the north-coast answer on Koh Phangan, and it only works when the wind swings north to northeast. The bay is a shallow white-sand lagoon in front of a working fishing village: flat inside, more chop and swell as you push out toward open water in a stronger northeast blow.

The window is short, mainly November to January, and when it opens the south-coast schools pack up and move here, which makes a small bay feel busy fast. Standing depth runs 0.5-1.5 m with the tide. Low tide is the lesson tide, high tide is the foil tide.

Level advice pulls both ways: the standing depth and the onshore wind suit a beginner, while the tight space, the boats and the more exposed water argue for someone who can already stay upwind. Fishing boats use this bay for a living, so find out where the corridor is before you unroll lines.

Do not build a Koh Phangan trip around Chaloklum; treat it as the plan that saves a north-wind week.

The wind

locals call it northeast monsoon

Direction

onshoreN

Kite sizes

7891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: Reported two ways, and they do not agree: mornings and late afternoons as the strongest hours, against a session window of roughly 11:00 to 16:00 when daytime heating reinforces the monsoon flow. Neither reading is specific to Chaloklum.

Typical strength

10-20 knots, with 10-15 knots also reported and occasional 20-25 knot days.

A short seasonal window that can blow properly in the north-wind season, with monsoon rain squalls reported through it.

Chaloklum is the north-wind option on Koh Phangan. Schools move up here from November to mid-December or early January when the direction turns northeast, and one operator instead places the north-east season at December to February, so the edges of the window are not agreed. North winds run 10-20 knots through the cool months, with days of 20-25 and more.

It is weeks rather than months either way, and monsoon rain squalls take days out of it.

The quiver, in words

No size table exists for the bay. Across the island the season quiver runs 9-15 m depending on rider weight, with 9-12 m for experienced riders once it is properly on. In Chaloklum's 10-20 knot north-wind window an 80 kg rider is on 12 m most days and 9-10 m at the top of the range.Lessons need 12-18 knots to work at all. Indicative: island figures, not measured in this bay.

Direction to shore

onshore to side-onshore at the Chaloklum north-coast launch

Dominant direction

N, NE, ENE

Forecast

Month by month

Jan, riders' month34
Feb, riders' month36
Mar, riders' month24
Apr10
May40
Jun49
Jul61
Aug56
Sep62
Oct17
Nov, riders' month33
Dec, riders' month47

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Nov, Dec.

10Jan29°
10Feb29°
9Mar30°
9Apr32°
10May32°
11Jun31°
12Jul30°
11Aug31°
12Sep30°
9Oct30°
10Nov30°
11Dec29°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air	Water
Jan	34%	9.9 kt	NE	26.2°C	28.5°C
Feb	36%	10.3 kt	ESE	26.5°C	29.2°C
Mar	24%	9.2 kt	SE	27.3°C	29.8°C
Apr	10%	8.6 kt	SE	28.6°C	31.8°C
May	40%	10.3 kt	WSW	28.3°C	32.1°C
Jun	49%	11.1 kt	WSW	27.8°C	30.7°C
Jul	61%	12 kt	WSW	27.1°C	30.2°C
Aug	56%	11.3 kt	WSW	27.3°C	30.5°C
Sep	62%	12.1 kt	WSW	26.7°C	29.8°C
Oct	17%	8.6 kt	W	26.3°C	30.3°C
Nov	33%	9.9 kt	ENE	26.1°C	29.7°C
Dec	47%	11.1 kt	NE	26°C	28.6°C

modelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid (2022-2024), not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

ERA5 reanalysis grid point (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical weather API — ECMWF ERA5/ERA5-Land reanalysis, not a ground station · 2022-2024

The water

Type

flat lagoon with possible swell/open-coast chop in stronger northeast wind

Standing depth

0.5-1.5 m depending on tide; low tide is best for lessons, high tide suits foiling.

Tides

Tide affected. Low tide is the better lesson water; high tide is what the kitefoilers and wingfoilers use.

Temperature

29°C summer · 28°C winter

Wetsuit

Usually no full wetsuit needed in the Gulf of Thailand; some Koh Phangan schools provide neoprene clothing in the coldest monsoon period.

29–32°C water

A white-sand lagoon protected by coral reef, clear and warm. Fishing boats and village activity share parts of the bay.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

Shallow standing depth and onshore to side-onshore wind put Chaloklum in beginner range, while the tight space, the boats and the more exposed north-wind conditions push it toward riders who can already stay upwind. Both readings sit in the record and neither has been settled.

The scene

What riders come here for

beginnerflat waternortheast monsoonfreeridefoilprogression

A quiet fishing village most of the year. The kite area gets crowded the moment the schools move north for the wind.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

4 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: Tight during the north-wind window, when island schools and independent riders converge on the same bay.

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Ban Tai Beach, 7 km

Ban Tai Beach Nathon Hua Thanon (Nahai Beach)

Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.

Rescue

No dedicated rescue service is published for Chaloklum. Cover is whatever the pop-up school on the beach happens to run that week, so ask before you go out alone, and do not assume the rescue boat a school keeps at its main base has come north with it.

Onshore the numbers are 191 for police, 1669 for an ambulance and 1155 for the tourist police (2026).

Launch

Beach launch inside Chaloklum Bay on the north coast: white sand, coral reef offshore, and a sandbar the schools use for teaching. In the north-wind window island schools set up as a pop-up base here, at Wattana Resort and at Malibu Beach Bungalows two to three minutes' walk from the water, with a beach bar and restaurant alongside. The rest of the bay belongs to the fishing fleet.

Space

Tight during the north-wind window, when island schools and independent riders converge on the same bay.

Rules & access

2026: no kite-specific rule, permit, closed season or marked zone has been published for Chaloklum Bay, and no Thai municipal or Marine Department document on kite launching here was reachable. What governs the bay in practice is the fishing fleet, which works out of it year round: the usable corridor is set week to week by where the boats lie and where the pop-up school has set up, so it is a question for the beach rather than for a map.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Rider tips

Confirm the day is a real N, NE or ENE setup before you ride over. The south-coast spots work better in SE wind.
Ask a school where the launch corridor sits that week, because the fishing boats and the pop-up school setups move it.
Take the low tide if you are learning and the high tide if you are on a foil.
Book the north coast loosely. The window is weeks, not months, and monsoon squalls eat days out of it.
There is no rescue cover in this bay beyond what a school brings for the season. Ride with someone who can come and get you.

Getting there

Airport

Samui Airport (USM), then ferry to Koh Phangan; Surat Thani is the lower-cost mainland alternative via bus/ferry.

Route

Fly to Koh Samui, cross to a ferry pier and take the ferry to Thong Sala or Haad Rin, then taxi or motorbike north to Chaloklum. The cheap way in is the Bangkok night bus and ferry combination.

Cost level

medium

Staying

Small hotels and bungalows in Chaloklum. The village is quiet and 20-40 minutes from the livelier parts of the island.

No-wind days

Snorkeling around Haad Khom and nearby coves, diving access including Sail Rock trips, local seafood, temples, SUP and beach time.

Photos

Titled Chaloklum koh phangan beach directly — Davide Dioporto / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Chalok Lam Beach, wide shot — Christophe95 / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Chalok Lam Beach — Christophe95 / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Last updated: August 2026